Hmm...thinking about this, I would have to make a slight change to what I said above. A "regular" shut-off letter would have to be sent (so that if someone did move and wanted to keep service [I did when we had to move but our house hadn't sold yet] they would have to be informed) and additionally a "current resident" letter should be sent. Since these letters are all auto-generated, and if they company only did this duplicate letter on the very last notice, then they really are only paying for paper and another stamp to get the extra copy going. Even if they only get a slight response from this duplicate lettering, I think it would still pay for itself 'cause it is in the company's benefit to have services being paid for and not have to go through the additional time/expense of re-establishing service

And if they sent this second notice on a postcard, so the recipient wasn't necessarily "opening" someone else's mail, so much the better if it was a new resident. As for trying to get the back balance from before the resident established service, some utilities make you bring your lease or closing statement in at establishment (I think most of them targeted apartment complexes with high turnover rates) and made that date the date of your beginning service, no matter when you had gone down to establish an account. That way, the utility isn't losing a couple of months of services.

Thanks for making me think, Jennifer

Pam